Supervisor Brown says ‘no way’ to proposed Phillips 66 expansion

Solano County Supervisor Monica Brown has penned a strongly-worded letter to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, opposing Phillips 66’s proposal to more than double its oil tanker fleet in the bay.

“On behalf of my Benicia and Vallejo constituents, I express my strong opposition to this proposed expansion,” she wrote.

Brown noted that a tanker spill into the bay last September created a strong odor all over the region and sent people the hospital.

“I was in Benicia the night the spill happened, so I experienced it first hand,” she said.

The Rodeo-based refinery for Phillips 66 wants to go from 59 tankers a year to 135, raising the daily delivery of crude from 51,000 barrels to 130,000, according to reports.

BAAQMD issued two “public nuisance” violations to Phillips 66 for its Sept. 20, 2016 spill, which leaked oil into the bay and sent an estimated 120 people to the hospital from fumes.

A “Draft Environmental Impact Report,” or D.E.I.R. is in the works due to Phillips’ new expansion permit application, and Brown suggested that BAAQMD consider the following things.

First, Benicia and Vallejo are already surrounded by refineries. “What will the cumulative impacts of all these pollution drivers be when compounded by the proposed expansion?” she asked.

Also, Brown pointed to the high rates of asthma in south Vallejo already. She also brought up the proposed ORCEM cement factory, which if approved, she said would pollute the neighborhood even more.

“The Phillips 66 expansion would only exacerbate these problems,” she said.

Brown suggests holding community meetings in Benicia and Vallejo to discuss the proposal and get feedback from constituents on the D.E.I.R. She also said that the public should be informed of the meetings by every means possible, through newspapers, social media and websites.

“My constituents were impacted by the last Phillips 66 spill and deserve to have a voice in something that has already so negatively impacted them,” she said.

Brown encourages people to write to BAAQMD with their opinions on this proposed expansion at P66MarineTerminalPermitRevision@baaqmd.gov.